The "son of parnas," "daughter of parnas," and "cousin of son" posts reminded me that it's been a while since I read any E.E. "Doc" Smith.  There's nothing like a pitched battle between good and evil when they're both equipped with stupendously destructive ray guns and hyper-fast spaceships.  Gotta dig out the "Skylark" or "Lensman" series and read them again...

Who are you and what have you done with Ward?

The Lensman series was good.  "Doc Savage" was good, too.  As well as "The Avenger"

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Avenger